Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was last Thursday, and I had the whole week at home due to a project shutdown. It was so great to be home for that long. So many things happened that I don't know where to start.

First, we moved into the new house. Yay! I got home on Thursday the 16th. That was our last night in the apartment; the next morning we left our stuff but took the cats over to the house and I stayed there with them during the day waiting on deliveries while John was at work. We had no TV and no internet connection, so I was sitting alone in a house with very little to do the whole day. In the early evening my dad called and said he was watching the news and our apartment complex was on fire! We had no access to the news in any way, so I phoned the complex and they confirmed there was a big fire but luckily our apartment was not involved. It was the apartment building next to us, though. We had to go back to the apartment that night to get some of our things (we hadn't brought any toiletries or blankets to the house because we intended to go back and get them that evening), and the fire was still going pretty strong. Our stuff was moved out the next morning as planned. I tried to donate some things we wouldn't need for the people affected, but the office at the apartment said furniture was on its way and there were enough apartments for them to be rehomed, so it sounds like some fast action was able to be taken.

We love the house. I have taken some more pictures. It's kind of empty right now and yet messy, so I will continue to post pictures things come along. We had beautiful weather over the weekend so John did a lot of raking of all the leaves that were in the yard. We have some lovely mature trees on our property. Apparently they built the neighborhood in a way that kept a lot of mature trees which makes it really pretty. The houses are about 12 years old, and you can see the trees have to be older than that due to their height. We've also had some new furniture delivered which has been fun. The cats have adjusted well yet again to this move. We have a basement, and the first couple of days they were finding it quite comforting to hang out down there most of the time, but as time has gone on and they have become more comfortable they have spent less and less time there.

So the biggest news of all is we found a puppy to rescue! She is a black lab/beagle mix, 6 weeks old, born to a stray who had a litter of 11 pups (what an enormous litter, and all survived!). Five of her littermates were taken but we still got to choose from 6, which is about a normal sized litter, so I still feel like we got the pick of the litter. ;-) We are calling her Lucy. She will fit in quite well with the Beatles theme (Abbey and Jude). We thought we were going to get her in 2 weeks, but today they called and said she has been spayed and is ready to go home! So I think we are bringing her home on Thursday now! It is going to be a mad next few months I imagine, but so much fun. I just pray the cats adjust to this as beautifully as they have the other changes the last few months.

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. We went to my dad's on the actual day. My dad and I made a sweet potato souffle which was a hit. The Saturday after Thanksgiving we went to my mom's for ThanksAgainving, as I was calling it. Obviously our nephews were there, which adds even more fun and excitement to the day. They are so funny. It was great to have my first American Thanksgiving in a few years, although my in laws spoiled me every year in England by preparing my own special Thanksgiving dinner for me.

So I think that pretty much hits most of the main points of my week at home. Oh, I did partake in some after Thanksgiving sales and survived. We are about 80% done with our Christmas shopping!

San Fran baby!

John and I went to San Francisco this weekend for Emily's 30th birthday. It was a surprise, which is why I haven't mentioned yet that we were planning the trip. It was a great weekend, and she was very surprised. Reena was also there as well as another college roommate of ours, Tracy. We got there on Friday. Neither of us had been there before so we went on a three hour walking tour. We learned some cool stories about the city and got some exercise up those monsterous hills. There were three older women on the tour as well, and one of them was quite an old dear who was from San Francisco. She was lovely, but also kind of a pain in the ass as she had her own things to tell to compete a little with the tour guide and even wanted the thing to go backwards so she could end up near where her dinner reservations were. But she was just excited I guess, bless her.

That night we went to Emily's birthday dinner. She knew Reena was coming and thought originally that I was coming, but I had a chat with her over IM last week and told her I was really sorry I couldn't make it, yaddy yaddy yaddy. She fell for it hook, line, and sinker and was pretty surprised when she got there and we were at the bar! So that was really fun. The dinner was great, catching up with her, Reena, Tracy, and Carter, and also meeting her friends and catching up with the ones I met at the wedding. Afterwards we went dancing at a bar that smelled like puke. Needless to say, that place only lasted one beer.

The next morning we went to Emily's house. They have a beautiful apartment overlooking the bay and Alcatraz. Amazing view. Carter had hired a bus to take about 10 of us to Napa for wine tasting. We went to three vineyards. They had been warning me that it's easy to get carried away with tasting in Napa because you're drinking small amount so it hits you before you're expecting it. Of course, I like to think of myself as gifted so I figured this would not apply to me. Let's just say that looking back on some of the pictures today, I only had vague remembrances of some events and others I don't know how I even got into the picture because I'm fairly sure I wasn't even there when it was being taken. Good times. Anyway, it was a really wonderful day. And there was like 90% chance of rain and it ended up being lovely weather!

Sunday we met Emily and Reena for breakfast, then went to an exhibit of Titanic artifacts. That was pretty cool. I think it is a traveling exhibit. Afterwards we went to Fisherman's Wharf, then to Alcatraz for a night tour. That was very cool.
They did a really great job with the different tours through the prison as well as the guide on the boat ride on the way to the island.

That was pretty much it really. We left on Monday. I flew back to Indy for Monday night, then back to Chicago early Tuesday morning. So I’ve only have two nights away from home this week! I leave tomorrow night, then get all next week off! I have some internal IBM work to do, but we’ve got a project shutdown so I won’t have too much work stuff I need to worry about. Good timing as well since we are moving into the new house on Friday! We completed last week as I mentioned in my last post, but because of the SF trip we haven’t actually moved in yet. Friday we get loads of deliveries like the couch and bedroom furniture, so we can start staying there. Then Saturday our stuff gets moved. So I will be spending a lot of next week looking around for other furniture that we need like tables, chairs, etc. We popped in to see the house Monday after our flight which was very exciting for me since I haven’t seen it since we first viewed it. I still love it! So that’s good news! :-) I will try to get some new pics of it up next week. But until then, here is a link to some pics from this weekend’s trip. (There are three albums in the link.)

Lightning fast update

I had a great weekend seeing the nephews, watching the Colts finally win a bloody game against New England (they are still undefeated for anyone keeping track), and enjoying my first three day weekend from our new four day work schedule, but the real news is what’s happening in the regular news. I don’t have time for a long update, but I wanted to put something up quickly while I had a couple of minutes.

Firstly, I am very pleased with the election results. We finally have restored a bit of balance into Washington and I hope we see some resulting changes.

Secondly, in case you’ve been under a rock the last couple of days you will know that Britney and K-Fed are getting divorced. My colleague summed the whole thing up perfectly about an hour ago: I don’t know what is worse, how much coverage the divorce is getting or the fact that I find myself reading it all.

Thirdly, Borat is out over here and it’s a huge hit. This is Ali G’s new movie, who is a comedian-type guy from the UK. I am curious to know if it has already come out in the UK and if it is/was such a success over there. Everyone is talking about it here and it is getting rave reviews all over the board. It made millions in its first weekend, and that was only in limited theatres. Any of you guys in England who can enlighten me to what the reception has been like over there, please do so!

Finally, today is house buying day! We are completing today, and we’re so excited! We spent a lot of last weekend packing so we’re all ready. Woo hoo!

Marching bands are the greatest

I have gotten to see the IU marching band two weekends in a row now. John makes fun of me, but I love marching bands! They are so entertaining, the way they move together to form different shapes and letters. And all while playing music. The shapes and letters change so fast, too. One second it's all perfectly aligned, everyone in their exact spot, and the next there is chaos as they run around getting to their next spot, and the second after that there is another new shape and everyone has found their perfect place again. High school marching bands are good (not to brag, but my high school had a top rated marching band. Of course, I was a cheerleader and had nothing to do with band, but as these things go one naturally feels a sense of pride when something good is slightly related to oneself), but you get a big college band like IU's and it's darn near perfect! Anyway, we went to the IU homecoming football game this weekend and at halftime the marching band came performed some 'big hair' songs (Van Halen, Bon Jovi, etc) which I got a big kick out of while John tried his best to stay cool and portray only the smallest amount of mild enjoyment (but inside I'm sure he was enjoying it just as much as me, if not more ;-) ).

So as I mentioned, on Saturday we went down to IU to the homecoming football game. It was a cold and windy day, but sunny and as long as you were in the sun it wasn't too bad particularly since we had several layers on. It was a great game. IU has never really been known for its football team, but the last few games they have actually won and last weekend they slaughtered Michigan State by about a million points.

We're so used to going to the Colts games that the college football scene had a whole different feel to it. The way they play is different. It's sort of hard to explain because it's the same sport with the same rules (although many of the penalties are different in that different rule infractions carry different penalty yardages), but the plays that they make are a lot different. For example, in pro games the quarterback hardly ever runs the ball himself, but in college (at least this particular game anyway) the quarterback is constantly running the ball himself. Another difference between the Colts games and the IU game was the players themselves. The college kids look so skinny and fragile compared to the pro guys, but by the same token they seem a lot more agile and quick. And of course the cheerleaders were completely different. College cheerleaders are proper athletes who do flips and pyramids and actually cheer. The pro cheerleaders do little dances on the sidelines every few minutes, smile for the camera, and perform very out of sync dances out on the field before the game.

We had gone down to Bloomington originally because my friend Steph who now lives in Tampa (near Faith) came up with her baby Jaden and husband Gordon. They also went to IU (although I didn't know Steph until Lilly) so came up for homecoming. We got to meet up with them for a little while before the game which was really nice. Jaden is such a cutie! There wasn't loads of time to catch up, but it was great to see them. I'm looking forward to seeing them again in December when I go to Florida to meet Faith's new baby.

Sunday was more 'house stuff' shopping. We got a TV, washer and dryer. I could go on and on about picking these things out, but I might just fall asleep thinking about it. Actually, joking aside it is fun stuff to shop for (sadly enough, I am very excited about the washer and dryer in particular. Did I suddenly become a housewife in the ‘50s?), but I don't think there is a way to write about the exhausting process without putting anyone reading this into a boredom-induced coma. So shall I carry on talking about marching bands then?!

So my new work schedule is official now! I start this week with my 4 day schedule (although the contract was only just signed today. I'm kind of a rebel). John and I (and Abbey and Jude, of course) are so excited about the extra time I get to be at home. It makes for longer days in the office as I need to squeeze 40 hours into four days, including not getting into the office until about 9 and leave at 4:30 on Thurs, but it will be very worth it.